Ghosts of the Past
by lionor
Summary: Faces from the Winchesters' past surface in Purgatory, including Emma and Madison.


She'd seen him, of course, from the shadows. He never saw her, because he was too hell- (or earth?) bent on surviving. But she saw him nonetheless. It was an odd combination of shame and pride to know that it was partly his blood that ran in her veins. He was lucky to be her father; she didn't want to kill him. So Emma turned away and slunk off into the murky underbrush, trying to forget the Winchester's mercy.

Emma was a strange Amazon. Many of the other Amazonian souls stuck together, roaming about purgatory in vicious packs. She never quite fit in with her birth crowd, and preferred to rough it alone. Until she met Madison, a reluctant werewolf with an aversion to killing, who, oddly enough, had had her own Winchester encounter that ended equally as fatally. "Dying at the point of Sam Winchester's gun?" said Emma at first. "I know how that goes." And even though Madison had seemed to actually care for Sam, the two outcasts became fast friends.

But it wasn't Sam here. It was his brother. Madison didn't care either way for Dean, but Emma couldn't help her fascination. She convinced Madison to follow him and his vampire friend for over a month, just to see what they were doing. She'd had about enough of the stalking until they were attacked and outnumbered. Emma had spent too long staring at her father to wish him dead, not any more. So without a second thought she leapt out into the fray, Madison shouting warnings behind her. Between the vampire, the Winchester, and the Amazon, the gang was quickly vanquished. Unfortunately, it was too late for Emma to fade into the shadows. The vampire caught her by the hair, poised to slit her pale throat. But Dean let out a hoarse, "Stop. I know her."

The vampire raised his brows. "I don't doubt there's a thousand sons of bitches who you know down here, Dean, so why the exception?"

"Damn it Benny, this one is different, so let her go."

Benny shrugged and loosened his hold. "Come on, Dean-o, tell us the story."

As Dean floundered for words, Emma cleared her throat forcefully. "What he's _trying_ to say is that he's my father."

Benny snorted. "That was probably quite a night, brother."

Dean grimaced. "Her mom and I had a good time while it lasted. But she's an Amazon, and yeah, this one's my kid, I guess. It's kind of an awkward situation." He tossed the words to Benny indifferently, but he gazed at Emma like a dead relative's ghost, a strange longing and grief that she didn't expect in his eyes.

Emma was suddenly made uncomfortable. She looked around, wondering where Madison had gone. But the werewolf was invisible in the underbrush, no doubt dreading a confrontation with the omnipotent Dean. "Well, it was a pleasure seeing you...dad," she said at last, darting away from Benny and into the trees. She stopped following him them, but heard rumors later that he'd made it out, through the portal into the outside world. Secretly, she was relieved.

Madison, meanwhile, often wondered what she was missing topside. It was the right thing to do, be here where no innocent people would die. But she had wanted a normal life. Still, it was fun to have a young friend in Emma, who had known less of life than most girls. Her affinity for Dean was odd, though, considering her hatred for Sam, her killer. That little fact wouldn't have bothered Madison much had Sam not appeared in purgatory one day, looking older and more exhausted than she could have imagined.

Emma saw the other Winchester and immediately wanted to spring, to kill the man that had killed her. But Madison held her back.

"Why?" Emma demanded. "He shot you, for crying out loud."  
Madison shook her head. "He did what he had to do. Sam Winchester is a good man, and if we spared Dean, we spare Sam too."

So that was what they did. They let the younger Winchester alone. He reappeared a day later, an old man in tow, and Emma looked at the soul hungrily. But Madison held her back stoically. When the vampire Benny suddenly entered the scene, and the other vampires attacked, though, Madison couldn't bare to watch Sam be hurt. So as the vampires fought around her, she fought too, holding another posse back. If Sam caught a glimpse of her, he said nothing. But Madison had never felt more alive than in the moment when she knew that she had helped save Sam Winchester.


End file.
